Words Seem Out Of Place

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. ***** A note on the series and this site: This might be the final post in the "Misspent Youth" series - at least here. Maybe it'll eventually move with me. Oh, right, I buried the lede: I've moved, and would love for you to come visit me at my new site, The Starfire Lounge ! Moving forward, this site will likely cease to be updated, but will remain around for posterity and your continued reading pleasure. I have a few more things to post here over the coming days or weeks as a sort of "everything must go" send-off to the old girl. I also plan to write a final farewell post to my main online home for the last five years. Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading. ***** It's no surprise that the talented but now mostly forgotten Randi Brooks would make an appearance in the Misspent Youth series. She may not be a household name, but her resume...

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. When a friend tweeted recently that the first season of the criminally underrated 1980 sitcom  It's a Living,  about waitresses at the Above the Top restaurant located atop a swanky Los Angeles hotel, had appeared on Amazon Prime, I literally shouted out loud with joy. Then I spent the rest of the work day eagerly anticipating binging it later that night. Now, I hadn't seen the show since the 1980s, probably in reruns and when it was in its syndicated run (and retitled as Making a Living ). The series debuted in 1980, when I was in kindergarten, and it's entirely possible I watched it as it aired because, as I keep coming back to in this series, we Gen Xers were practically raised by the plethora of excellent pop culture of an era that coincided with the true golden age of the television sitcom. It's a Living will likely never be considered among the greats, but ...

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen Xer's gloriously misspent youth. I first laid eyes on screen and stage actress Kate Nelligan watching John Badham's Dracula (1979) a few years after its release. Even at that time, at a very young age of seven or eight, I was captivated by her. I understood nothing about romance or attraction yet, but I could still see why Frank Langella's Dracula wanted to sink his teeth into that neck. There was something in her eyes—an attractive melancholy that I'd be increasingly drawn to as I got older and became more melancholy myself. She had a pensive, thoughtful look. Something about her face felt safe and comforting to little me: "This," some omniscient narrator declared in my head, "is what quiet beauty looks like, kid." Nelligan was heartbreakingly good as Lucy in Dracula . That must've been the early 1980s, probably during the brief halcyon period when my parents subscribed to...

My blogging pfriend and pfellow Michelle Pfeiffer pfanatic Paul S. recently shared one of my Pfeiffer posts and added his own commentary to it, over at his pfabulous site  Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies . Speaking of "pfabulous," in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of The Fabulous Baker Boys falling on October 13 this year, I'm going to do the same. Here's a dual commentary on the movie from two of the biggest Pfeiffer pfans in all the world (I'm confident this is true). I'm presenting Paul's original commentary (and his selected images), unedited. The Fabulous Pfeiffer Girl Paul: I’ve slept, I’ve woken and I still have Michelle on my mind. It’s not surprising, I need Pfeiffer in the way that some people need to eat, sleep and breathe.  Pfeiffer the face has launched a million pfixations. The film that made me an obsessed fanatic was  The Fabulous Baker Boys . Michael:  You and me, Paul, we're the same.  Baker Boys played a hu...

Celebrating Scream Queens that make the Halloween season the most wonderful time of year. In many ways, Linnea Quigley is the ultimate Scream Queen. A pint-sized bundle of pure punk rock spirit, Quigley has starred in countless horror and exploitation classics: The Return of the Living Dead: Silent Night, Deadly Night; Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama: Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers: Night of the Demons; Creepozoids; Nightmare Sisters ...get the point? Many of these cult classics are from the 1980s and early 1990s, when Quigley first shot to fame within the B-movie world. She was everywhere back then, at least if you were a horror-loving kid like myself. She seemed to pop up in every other splatter flick I watched on USA Up All Night or rented from the video store during those days. Whenever she joined host Rhonda Shear on set, it was like the horror gods had answered our heathen prayers. Explosive sex appeal, hilariously deadpan Valley Girl-esque charm, and a wil...